Carolina Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers, and The Low Anthem have joined celebrated Irish band The Chieftains to mark that group's 50th anniversary with a new album, Voice of Ages. The album, produced by T Bone Burnett, finds The Chieftains performing with these three Nonesuch artists as well as Bon Iver, The Civil Wars, The Decemberists, and others. The New York Times calls it "an album of collaborations with some of the hottest young folk, country, bluegrass, rockabilly and indie-rock talents on both sides of the Atlantic." The Low Anthem will be The Chieftains' special guests on stage at Carnegie Hall on St. Patrick's Day.

This President's Day weekend, Punch Brothers kick off their North American tour in North Carolina and return to NYC for their record release show ... Sérgio & Odair Assad perform in Berkeley ... Björk plays final NY Hall of Science show ... Carolina Chocolate Drops head down the East Coast ... Emmylou Harris plays closing set of Warren Hellman tribute concert in San Francisco ... Dr. John closes Asian tour in Hong Kong ... Kronos Quartet, Alim Qasimov Ensemble head South ... The Low Anthem tours Canada with City and Colour ... Joshua Redman is in Istanbul ... Allen Toussaint, Trombone Shorty are in Tallahassee ... Dawn Upshaw sings with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra ... and more ... 

The Black Keys visited the BBC's Maida Vale studios earlier this week for a special episode of BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, which included a 40-minute set for a live studio audience that was webcast live. You can watch their performance of "Lonely Boy" here. This Sunday, CBC Television in Canada will be airing a feature-length interview The Black Keys gave CBC Radio Q; watch a preview here.

Ry Cooder, having just premiered one new song, “Going to Tampa,” has now lent another new song, “The Mutt Romney Blues,” to a short satirical video by the progressive activists Brave New Films. The song and video tell the now well-known tale of the unusual al fresco car ride of Mitt Romney’s dog, only this time from a decidedly different perspective: that of the trusty pooch himself. This dog’s tune is, of course, a blues. Watch the video here.

Steve Reich will make a rare visit to Australia this April for the launch of a new series at the Sydney Opera House called The Composers. From April 26 to 29, the House will stage The Composers: Steve Reich in Residence, featuring a workshop with students from the Flagship Sydney Youth Orchestras, a conversation at Sydney Opera House, and a culminating performance by Synergy Percussion, eighth blackbird, and others.

Carolina Chocolate Drops, whose new album, Leaving Eden, is due out February 28, are touring the US and have just added a number of new tour dates to their schedule this spring, including several headlining shows in the Midwest and down South, as well as five shows supporting the Dave Matthews Band in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Ticket presales are available to DMB fans starting this morning.

Kronos Quartet's latest album, Music of Vladimir Martynov, has been named the Album of the Week by Q2 Music, the New York-based online new-music station of WQXR. The album opens with The Beatitudes, which "beams with religious ecstasy and provides an easy gateway to the meatier subjects," says Q2. "Enter with fortitude, but expect euphoria." Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of one of the pieces at Carnegie Hall on February 28.

Punch Brothers celebrate the release of their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, with a performance of "New York City" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Paste calls it "phenomenal." On this, their "unquestionably finest" album yet, "the multi-talented quintet wisely continue doing what they do best: crafting off-kilter, classically-tinged pop songs that sound like absolutely no other band on the planet ... [E]very track is a small wonder of some sort," says Paste. "They may have just crafted a masterpiece of their own." The Wrap and Reuters call it "terrific." Rolling Stone says: “The acoustic framework dazzles—wild virtuosity used for more than just virtuosity.”

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out now. To mark the occasion, the album is streaming in full via Spinner and MSN Music. MSN gives the album four stars and says: "This forward-thinking string band plies fresh ideas with traditional instruments, yielding a fusion as quirky yet accessible—and uniquely American—as Talking Heads." The A.V. Club gives the album an A-, saying their songs exist "both out of time and in the moment thanks to its youthful, gung-ho approach to timeless sounds." 

The Black Keys, fresh on the heels of a winter tour of Europe and in the lead-up to their North American tour, have announced a new run of European dates for this summer. The tour includes several sets at summer festivals—Way Out West, Øya, Flow, Lowlands, and Highfield—as well as headlining shows in Copenhagen and Dublin. The band performed "Lonely Boy" on Canal Plus' Le Grand Journal last night. Watch it here. The Evening Standard, reviewing their recent London show, says: "In our era of airbrushing and auto-tuning, the Ohio duo are a definitive argument for keeping things rugged and real."

Ry Cooder has unveiled a new song: "Going to Tampa." The song, which premiered via The New Yorker's News Desk blog, follows in the spirit of his recent song "Wall Street Part of Town" and his album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, and looks ahead to the Republican National Convention, painting a picture of what could come as only Cooder can. Listen to the song here.

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out this week. The band will appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, performing the album track "New York City." Check out a preview video with the song here. The New York Times includes the album on this week's Playlist, saying the band is focusing on "playful storytelling on this album," noting though "their mind-boggling cover of Radiohead’s 'Kid A.'” The New Yorker features the album in the Listening Booth, describing it as "a mystical alchemy of old-time music and contemporary sensibilities." In the UK, where the band is the subject of a feature article in the Observer, the Daily Telegraph gives the album a perfect five stars.